Zambia Was Robbed

I am not a huge sports fan, but every now and then I go to a sporting event and I invariably have a great time. Last night I went to a double header as part of the Fifa Under-20 World Cup (group round) and it was a blast. The games were played in Burnaby (in the greater Vancouver area) in the arena usually used by the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Vancouver — High Tech and Immigrant Friendly

According to an article on CBC’s website, today Microsoft plans on opening a Vancouver software development centre in Vancouver. It will be a catch-all centre that will be tasked with various activities according to need rather than being the hub for a particular project. The usual reasons were cited for choosing Vancouver, including the wonderful location (it is in a beautiful part of the country). However, what I found interesting is the explicit recognition that getting visas for skilled foreign workers is a major problem in the U.S. and that the company can sidestep those problems by opening in Canada where the rules are a little less draconian and the attitude a little more open. Sharif Khan of Microsoft Canada put it a little more diplomatically:

“There’s a restriction on the number of visas the company can get for foreign employees in the U.S.,” he said. “Canada’s slightly more inclusive in that respect.”

Plus, as a bonus, it’s only a couple of hours to the main Microsoft campus which makes in-person meetings easy. So, welcome to Vancouver all ye programmers of the world.